USS ''Leopold'' (DE-319) was an built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Named for

Ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

Robert Lawrence Leopold to date it is the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

Namesake

Robert Lawrence Leopold was born on 11 November 1916 in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve 10 July 1940. Following training in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, he was appointed

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

on 16 September 1940 and commissioned

on 12 December. Reporting for duty on board the two weeks later, Leopold was killed in action on 7 December 1941 during the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

Construction and commissioning

''Leopold'' was laid down on 24 March 1943 by the

Consolidated Steel Corporation Consolidated Steel Corporation (formed 18 December 1928) was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Consolidated built ships during World War II in two locations: Wilmington, California and Orange, Texas. It was created in 1929 by the merg ...

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Houst ...

; launched on 12 June 1943; sponsored by Ms. Helen S. Leopold, sister of Ensign Leopold; and commissioned on 18 October 1943.

History

After structural firing tests at

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

she departed for

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. On 7 November, she proceeded to

Great Sound, Bermuda The Great Sound is large ocean inlet (a sound) located in Bermuda. It may be the submerged remains of a Pre-Holocene volcanic caldera. Other geologists dispute the origin of the Bermuda Pedestal as a volcanic hotspot. Geography The Great Sound ...

where shakedown exercises were begun. On 9 December, she left for

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

and 11 days of post-shakedown availability. After four days of training exercises for officers and her nucleus crew for new destroyer escorts in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

area, ''Leopold'' stood out of Thimble Shoal Channel on 24 December 1943 as part of Task Force 61 (TF 61), escorting convoy UGS-68 to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. On 30 December, ''Leopold'' was directed to go to the rear of the convoy and search for a seaman reported lost overboard from one of the convoy ships. It was very dark and fairly rough, so, unless the seaman had on a life jacket with a light, the chances of finding him were slight. After 45 minutes, she discontinued the search. The convoy reached the

Straits of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medit ...

on 10 January and was turned over to British escorts. ''Leopold'' moored at

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

the next day. On 13 January, she commenced patrolling as

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

screen across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

side of the Straits of Gibraltar, TF 61 forming a line to prevent

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s from entering the Mediterranean. On 15 January, she moored at

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, and the following day, proceeded out of the inner harbor to close up the stragglers on west-bound convoy GUS-27. On 1 February, a northwesterly

gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on 4 February for ten days availability at the Navy Yard. From 14 to 27 February, ''Leopold'' – with other escorts of

Escort Division The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the worl ...

22 (CortDiv 22) – underwent training exercises at

Casco Bay, Maine Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its so ...

. Departing

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on 1 March on her second voyage, ''Leopold'' took her screening station – as part of CortDiv 22 – with the 27-ship convoy CU-16 bound for the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. On 8 March, she reported an

HF/DF High-frequency direction finding, usually known by its abbreviation HF/DF or nickname huff-duff, is a type of radio direction finder (RDF) introduced in World War II. High frequency (HF) refers to a radio band that can effectively communicate ov ...

intercept which indicated an enemy submarine on the route of the convoy. The route was consequently altered. On 9 March, while south of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, she reported a radar contact at 19:50 at , which placed it south of the convoy at . Assisted by the

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

(Captained by Lt. Comdr. R. Wilcox, U.S. Coast Guard), ''Leopold'' was ordered to intercept.

General Quarters General quarters, battle stations, or action stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed ...

was sounded and orders were issued to "''fire on sight.''" A

flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...

was released and gun crew strained to sight the submarine in the lighted area. The U-boat was almost submerged when spotted and the gun crews had to work blind. ''Leopold'' was struck by an

acoustic torpedo An acoustic torpedo is a torpedo that aims itself by listening for characteristic sounds of its target or by searching for it using sonar ( acoustic homing). Acoustic torpedoes are usually designed for medium-range use, and often fired from a sub ...

fired from the . Shortly after the torpedo strike, the crew of ''Leopold'' began to abandon ship as she broke in half. ''Joyce'' rescued 28 survivors at the close of the action; 171 others were lost through the explosion on board, drowning, and – most of all – cold water immersion. ''Leopold''s bow remained afloat until early the next morning until sunk as a hazard to navigation by gunfire from ''Joyce'' 400 miles south of Iceland.

The book

In 2017 Lyons Press published ''Never to Return'' by Randall Peffer and Col. Robert Nersasian. Through the use of extensive interviews with survivors of ''Leopold'', ''Joyce'', and the German submarine ''U-255'', the book tells the story of the battle and the struggles of the 28 men who survived. The book also resolves unanswered questions about why it took ''Joyce'' so long to begin rescuing the crew of ''Leopold'' from the icy water. Col. Nersasian's brother Sparky was one of the 28 survivors.

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold Edsall-class destroyer escorts World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Ships built in Orange, Texas 1943 ships Maritime incidents in March 1944